


The Fight That Woke Paris

by GayFairyRoyalty



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Arguing, F/M, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Post-Reveal Adrien Agreste/Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Post-Reveal Love Square, Rape/Non-con Elements, Sexual Assault, but it's not even with the main charcaters, cursing, it's backstory for the akuma, so you can skip the chapter, there's one chapter with:
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-28
Updated: 2018-02-13
Packaged: 2019-02-08 04:56:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12857208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GayFairyRoyalty/pseuds/GayFairyRoyalty
Summary: It’s been said that when Paris’ heroes fight, all of Paris knows.Their ongoing battles with Papillon’s akuma were legendary, impossible to miss even in the bustle of such a large city. But one night in late October, the good people of Paris discovered that when the heroes fought each other, it quickly put their other battles to shame. The sounds of shouting shattered the peaceful quiet of the apartments and townhouses, only growing louder as Ladybug and Chat Noir’s argument became more heated, startling residents from their beds as the heroes raced over the rooftops.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone! This is the first Miraculous Ladybug fic I've ever decided to publish so I hope you all like it!  
> Thank you to @angels-falling-stars on tumblr for being my awesome beta reader!

It’s been said that when Paris’ heroes fight, all of Paris knows.

Their ongoing battles with Papillon’s akuma were legendary, impossible to miss even in the bustle of such a large city. But one night in late October, the good people of Paris discovered that when the heroes fought each other, it quickly put their other battles to shame. The sounds of shouting shattered the peaceful quiet of the apartments and townhouses, only growing louder as Ladybug and Chat Noir’s argument became more heated, startling residents from their beds as the heroes raced over the rooftops.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
The next morning, everyone seemed on edge. A cloud of tension hung over the city, one that for once had nothing to do with Le Papillon. The ongoing argument the previous night had shaken them. Ladybug and Chat Noir had always seemed such an unshakable team, and to discover that kind of discord between them was deeply unsettling. Marinette looked as if she hadn’t slept a wink, Alya looked little better.

Until Adrien Agreste’s car pulled up to the school.

Marinette usually seemed excited when Adrien arrived, for she always ran up to the car with Alya and Nino and gave him a hug when he got out.

Over time, Marinette and Adrien became quite close friends, some say that it happened overnight but of course that isn’t possible for she used to stutter and be a complete spazz in front of him, there’s no way she could’ve gotten over that so quickly. 

When his car pulled up, Marinette stayed behind when Nino and Alya went over to his car to say hi, which was quite unusual. Alya and Nino looked back at her with questioning looks. She just looked away.

When he got out of the car, he quickly said hi; to his friends and walked over to where Marinette was standing. When she noticed him walking towards her, she turned around and went inside the school, leaving everyone but Adrien confused.

Puzzled, his friends followed him into the classroom, where once again he tried to approach Marinette. But before he could even open his mouth to speak, She put a hand up and quickly said “Don’t” in an angry voice.

“Fine, be that way,” he said through clenched teeth, his tone as cold as hers.

He went to turn around but stopped when she spit out the words, “Excuse me”, in a loud voice.

“Do I need to repeat myself?” he asked, his voice deceptively mild.

She glared at him and venomously. “Watch yourself, Agreste”

After that, He sat down and didn’t seem to notice all the stares coming from their classmates.

Alya and Nino both tried to pry at the two angry friends to see what was wrong.

“Okay Mari, I’m going to need an explanation of what the heck just happened.” Alya loudly whispered.

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Marinette said quietly.

“Oh no you don’t. You’re not getting out of this! What was all that? Did you and Adrien have a fight? I’ve never seen you act like that with him, it’s so unlike you girl!” Alya argued.  
‘  
This time Marinette didn’t reply, she just looked at her best friend sadly. It was a look Alya knew well, that was Mari’s ‘I fucked up’ look. 

Alya just nodded and went back to whispering. “Well if you need to talk about it or maybe I could help, just let me know. I’m here for you Mari.”

Alya hoped Nino was getting more information out of Adrien then she was getting out of Marinette. It almost looked as if Nino was talking to a brick wall, as Adrien was just straight up ignoring his best friend and looked solemnly at his desk.

The heavy feeling stayed in the air.

A few hours into the school day, and screams could be heard in the classroom coming from the hallway. Everyone stayed put until the key word was heard. Then a few moments later, the word “Akuma!” was yelled and everyone went into panic mode. Akuma attacks were almost routine after so many years of fighting. The class bustled through the door, Alya dashing on ahead, phone at the ready to capture her next lead for the ladyblog. They didn’t even notice the classmates that had stayed behind. Adrien’s head thumped onto the desk almost if irritated and Marinette could be heard mumbling “Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me!”, as she sunk into her chair, looking annoyed. She pushed herself out of her seat and walked to the door, calmly ignoring the teacher calling after her.

Adrien caught up with her a moment later. “Really Mari, you’re not even trying.”

“And what are you going to do? Just sit there? Very helpful indeed.”

He glared at her, his mouth twisted into a sullen frown. 

They left the room and sauntered into the hallway. They went their separate ways into the bathrooms and transformed.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The answer to the question... what happened with Adrien and Marinette?!?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so here's a flashback! I'm planning to update at least every few days, since classes are ending. Enjoy!

The Previous Night  
\---------------

They were strolling by The Seine, and he was walking a little too close to the edge for her comfort. Which meant that she was walking close to the edge too because she had to keep grabbing his hand and pulling him away from it. This time she didn’t bother letting go of his hand. Some nights ended like this, just a stroll late at night, fingers loosely intertwined. 

She knew he was going to bring it up tonight, she just had a feeling in her gut. And here he was, bringing it up, again.

“C’mon bug, don’t ignore me.” He bumped her hips with his, startling her.

“I’m not ignoring you Chat, I’m just thinking.”

“Oh great! Thinking is good, thinking about us would be better. Thinking about us being a couple would be fantastic even!”

She rolled her eye at his comment. “Chat…”

“What, like it’s a bad idea? Everybody already thinks we’re dating, so why don’t we?”

“That’s not a good reason to get together.”

“That’s not the only reason, there’s tons of reasons, I could write a novel with reasons that we should!”

“Stop being so loud, geez you’re going to wake the fishes.”

Letting go of her hand, he poked her in the side. “You’re a fish.

“Ah yes, I’m the fishiest fish”

Laughter bubbled out of him as he hunched over. She smiled. She loved his laugh. If she could hear his laugh every day, she could be happy.

“You’re cute.” She didn’t even realize that she said it out loud.

“Well, thank you princess. Though I must tell you that you are even cuter than me, and that’s hard because I’m pretty cute.

“Oh shut up you dork.”

He grabbed her hand and swung their arms as he started to whistle, ignoring her comment about him being a dork, proving her point even more.

They walked hand-in-hand for a few minutes just enjoying the night.

He’s going to bring it up again, I know it, she thought.

“Hey bug?”

Here it comes.

“Yes kitty?.”

“Give me a reason that we can’t be together, please.”

She sighed. She wanted to be in a relationship with him. She wanted to be with him. But she couldn’t. “I’ve told you this already, we’re superheroes and we have to stay focused and protect Paris.”

“Give me another reason.”

“Chat..”

“Another. Reason.”

“I don’t need to have another reason.”

“You’re only saying that because you only have one reason.”

“Fine, maybe I don’t have another reason. But that doesn’t mean that it’s not a good- ass reason.”

“I want another reason because if you only give me that bullshit about being heroes then I don’t want to hear it!” He started to get upset.

“Chat this is why I hate when you bring it up, you always get upset.”

“I’m not upset, okay maybe a little, but I am sick of not being able to be with you just because of your one reason!” He raised his voice.

They didn’t even notice that they were walking towards a neighborhood until they were already past a few apartments.

She held up her yoyo and flung it upward till it hit a roof and pulled herself up. He followed suit with his staff. They landed on separate rooftops. He jumped to the roof she was on but she started walking away.

“Please buginette, just listen to me.”

“I am Chat, I am, I’m listening to every word you say.”

This wasn’t a regular disagreement. This was something that has been building for weeks. Months. Years, even. Ever since they first became heroes, but mostly since their reveal.

“We can protect Paris perfectly fine right now and we even act like a damn couple!”

“Paris is fine until you think that your girlfriend is more important than civilians!”

“I know the rules, I know how to be a hero, you don’t have to tell me!”

“You say that now, but-“

“No buts, I know my job!”

“Are you sure?! Because I know you Chat!”

They didn’t notice the lights in the apartments turning on through the windows. They kept going from rooftop to rooftop.

It was slowly turning into a shouting match.

“We shouldn’t let that affect how we feel about each other!”

“Ugh Chat Noir, yes, you’re right, but Paris comes first!”

“Why?! Why don’t we matter?! Why doesn’t how we feel matter?! Tell me Ladybug!” He looked as if he was about to cry as he yelled.

“Because we’re Ladybug and Chat Noir!” She threw her arms up in the air dramatically.

“Just because we’re fucking superheroes, just because we’re fucking superheroes! Come up with a new reason dammit!” He was straining his voice at this point.

At this point they were running over rooftops, no longer a stroll, no longer having a calm conversation.

“Why are you always like this, so overdramatic?, Can you give it a break please!”

“Overdramatic! I’m being overdramatic! Well, I’m so sorry maybe I should just not care at all!” He started waving his arms around.

“I never said not to care. Don’t go putting words in my mouth!”

“You act like you don’t even care about us! You don’t care about what you know you want!”

“I do care, you know I care!”

“That’s the thing Ladybug, I don’t know if you care because you don’t act like it!”

“Well how am I supposed to act? Am I supposed to blow up in emotion at every given second?!”

“Start by saying yes to us!”

“It’s not a good idea Chat!”

He grabs her arm before she jumps to the next roof, turning her around so that she was facing him. “It’s the best idea that there is.” He says calmly, as if they haven’t been screaming at each other.

She pulls her arm out of his grasp, turns around and sighs. “I can’t deal with anymore of this right now. Any more of you. I just need a break.” She tries to say it calmly but it comes out as more of a lecture.

“A break. You need a break. This is so like you, running away from this.”

“Excuse me. What do you mean ‘this is so like me’?.”

“Whenever I bring up something you don’t like, you run away. Every time.”

“Well maybe you should stop bringing up certain subjects!”

“How are we ever going to work out as a couple if we can’t talk about subjects that we don’t like. We’re a team. We have to talk about our issues and things we don’t like!”

“Maybe I don’t want us to work out as a couple! Maybe I don’t want to be a couple at all!”

“You don’t mean that bugaboo.” He said quietly.

“Maybe I do.” She starts to speak quietly also.

“Bug...”

“What? What is it now?”

“Tell me. Tell me right now that you don’t want to be with me.”

‘Don’t do it’, she thought. ‘Don’t tell him that.’ ‘Be honest.’ ‘Say that you’re sorry.’ ‘Say that you want to be with him.’ ‘Say something!’

Her thoughts were racing, desperate to preserve some fragment of their relationship. She opened her mouth to speak but no words come out. ‘Say something already!’ she internally screams at herself. It was only then that she has started crying. She looked away, fixing her eyes anywhere but his face

“I- I- I don’t..” Her voice shook as she whispered into the night, Secretly hoping that he wouldn’t hear her. Bracing herself, she forced herself to speak louder, to break both of their hearts. “I don’t want to be with you.”

Tears sting at her eyes, roll freely down her face as she forces the words out. She can’t bear to look at his face, to see the pain that she knows will be there, a mirror to her own. But she has to know if he heard. So she looked up.

He looks like someone just smacked him, his mouth open with shock. He sharply tears his gaze away from her.

‘He probably can’t look me in the eyes anymore,’ she thinks.

“Fine!” He says suddenly. “I don’t want to be with you either!”

“Fine!” She yells back.

“Good!”

“Good!” She repeats.

They stare at each other.

“I can’t do this anymore.” She tries to speak with confidence, but she’s pretty sure that her voice is cracking.

“You already said that.”

“Well, it’s true. I’m sick of fighting with you.”

“Well are you gonna do about it?”

“I need a break.”

“You already said that too.”

“Well, I do! I just need a break from you!”

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Yeah. Okay, you need a break from me, I get it. And I’m getting sick of trying so hard when you don’t even care.”

‘I do care!.’ Her thoughts screamed. “Well, why are you trying so hard?” She asked instead.

“You know why.”

She sighed. She did know why. It’s because they would both be so much happier if they were together. They really do complete each other. Marinette and Adrien. Ladybug and Chat Noir. They were meant for each other. But they’re 17 now and she still fights him on being in a relationship even when they’ve been practically a couple since they revealed their identities last year.

She heard him take a long shaky breath. “Sometimes I feel like you’re not capable of loving me back,” he whispers.

She must’ve heard him wrong because there is absolutely no way he would ever say that to her. But she heard him. She heard him loud and clear. She’s shaking now, tears falling even more so than before. She has to get away from here. Away from him. She can’t bare to stand here with him anymore, if she stays any longer she’ll break, she’ll fall apart right in front of him. She can’t have that. No. No way. 

So she runs. Because that’s what she’s best at apparently.

Chat stayed rooted to the spot as he watched her run away into the night in the direction of her house. He doesn’t run after her. He knows he fucked up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What did you think of this chapter, let me know in the comments! 
> 
> You can message me on tumblr about it too! My tumblr is gayfairyroyalty


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Continued flashback of the previous night!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for all the comments, you all gave me so much inspiration and motivation to keep writing this.
> 
> Shoutout to everyone who has me on snapchat and watches me scream about writing this fic.

Next thing she knows, she’s running. Jumping from building to building. Running as far away from those words as she can. She doesn’t check to see if he is chasing after her. She doesn’t care. She knows that she’s crying. She sees the bakery and almost falls off a building in her distraction She barely catches herself before she falls and takes a moment to calm down. For a moment she stands there, just breathing. She just wants to get home. She starts running again. She makes it to her balcony and opens the hatch, dropping in and landing on her bed. She almost forgets that she’s Ladybug at the moment. She suddenly feels the magic surround her body as she detransforms and puts out her hand to catch Tikki as she floats down in the air.

“Oh Marinette. Why are you crying?” Tikki says with worry in her voice.

She remembers that kwami have no recollection of what happens when she is transformed. “I had a fight with Adrien. Again. It ended badly.” She says as she sniffles.

She explains what happened over the course of the night, watching Tikki go from worried to looking as if she was going to cry with Marinette. When Marinette finishes, Tikki flies up out of her hand and snuggles up to Marinette’s face. Marinette giggles, still sniffling.

“I can’t believe he said that to you, why would he ever say such a thing?” Tikki asks, sounding shocked.

“I don’t know Tikki, I don’t know. But I do know one thing.”

“And what’s that?”

“That I still can’t hate him. Even after he said that to me, I can’t bring myself to hate him.”

“Oh well of course you can’t hate him. You’re feelings for him are so strong that they overpower your anger.”

“Yeah you’re right,” she whispers.

A beeping sound coming from her pocket startles her. She realizes that it’s her phone. She reaches into her purse and looks down at the screen.

[1 new message from ‘My Silly Kitty <3’]

She can’t bring herself to unlock her phone and look at the message. Her phone beeps again, and again a moment later.

[3 new messages from ‘My Silly Kitty <3’]

No. She can’t look. She doesn’t want to. She puts her phone down on the bed next to her, face down. Her chest and head hurt from crying so hard. She needs to sleep, she’s so exhausted from all the arguing. She hears Tikki clear her throat, signaling that she’s about to speak.

“Marinette?”

“Yes Tikki?”

“Why did you tell Adrien that you didn’t want to be with him?”

“Because I,” she sniffles, “Because I’m scared Tikki. I’m scared!” She puts her head in her hands as she cries.

“What are you so scared of? You and him have grown so close since you revealed your identities and you have actual real feelings for him now.” Her feelings for Adrien had bordered on star-struck obsession, but since she found out that he was Chat, she had come to know him as a real person. 

“I don’t know.” She takes a steadying breath. “Maybe I’m scared to love him for real. I’m scared that one day I’ll wake up and he’ll realize his feelings for me are just out of pity. Or worse, he only loves me because I’m his Ladybug.” Her hands muffle her words.

“Marinette. Look at me.”

She lifts her head out of her hands and looks at Tikki, her face red and streaked with tears.

“Marinette, you are an amazing girl. You’re talented and are a spectacular person. You have a big heart and are capable of caring about even the hardest people to get along with. Look at you, you’re even getting along with Chloe! I promise you that he loves you for you, not just because of you being Ladybug. And you shouldn’t be afraid to love him. Life is too short to not take that chance at happiness. It may seem scary, but in the end it’s better knowing that something great can come out of it. Love is scary and everyone is scared at first, but once you find true love, it’s the greatest thing in the world.”

Marinette just stares at Tikki with wide eyes.

“Thank you Tikki. It means a lot.” She smiles lightly

Her phone beeps again. That’s 4 messages from him.

She takes a deep breath and exhales slowly, then reaches for her phone and turns it over so she can see the screen.

[4 new messages from ‘My Silly Kitty <3’]

She opens her phone and clicks on her messages, opening Adrien’s texts.

[My Silly Kitty <3: Mari, I’m so sorry. I can’t believe I said that. I’m sorry that I lashed out at you  
and yelled so much.]

[My Silly Kitty <3: Mari, I know you’re probably mad at me and don’t want to talk to me right now but I need you to know that I’m sorry.

[My Silly Kitty <3: I never intended to hurt you]

[My Silly Kitty <3: When you said that you needed a break, did you mean that?]

She sniffles while reading the texts. She can’t accept his apology. At least, not yet. She’s not ready to forgive him. He hurt her. And he’ll have to deal with that.

She exits Adrien’s messages and put her phone back down. She leaves her bed and changes into pajamas, then climbs back into bed. 

She looks around her room and and starts to feel nostalgic of every time that Adrien was here with her. She looks over at her computer and remembers all the times they would play video games together. She stares at her ‘loveseat/couch thing that i dont know the name of pls help’ and thinks of the nights after patrol where they would come back and he would secretly sleepover and they would snuggle up tightly to fit on it together. She looks around the room and recalls all the times she would be sewing something new and he would model for her and strut around the room like the dork he is. She wonders when they would be able to do those things again. She sighs, and thinks of how their hands fit perfectly together when they were walking around tonight.

“Let’s go to sleep Tikki.”

“You just need a good night’s sleep.”

Marinette lies down as Tikki flies down and kisses her on the forehead, making Marinette giggle.

“Goodnight Tikki.”

“Goodnight Marinette.

Her phone beeps one last time before she falls asleep.  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Next thing he knows, she’s running away. Jumping from building to building. He doesn’t bother running after her, it’ll only make things worse. He knows he shouldn’t have said it to her, but her had to. He needed her to know how he felt.

Guess it’s time to go home. He needs some rest, his head hurts from all the yelling. ‘Oh geez, I hope we didn’t cause a commotion and wake people up,” he thinks to himself.

He slowly starts on his way to the mansion. It is only then that he notice lots of lights on through the windows of the apartments and houses and some windows open. ‘Uh oh’ he thinks as he realizes that normally this many people aren’t awake at 2 am during their patrols, meaning that they woke these people up. Down below he hears a call of his name. He stops and looks around.

“Chat Noir!” He hears coming from one of the apartments below.

He sees a girl looking out of her open window. Realizing that she is the one calling his name he jumps down to where her window is and lands on the window sill.

“Was it you calling my name? Is everything okay?” He asks, keeping his voice even so as not to scare her. She looked about 13 years old, so she shouldn’t be awake at this time.

“Yes it was me, and I was wondering if everything is alright with you and Ladybug. I heard you both fighting and it sounded pretty harsh.”

“Oh, I’m sorry that you had to hear all that, we didn’t mean to cause such a ruckus. I’m so sorry.”

The girl looks worried. “Yeah, you guys were pretty loud, it was hard not to hear it.”

“Oh. Well you should get back to sleep, you probably have school tomorrow, correct?” Obviously trying to change the subject.

“Yeah and I have a quiz in my class too.”

“Again, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry Chat Noir, everyone gets into fight sometimes even Paris’ heroes are allowed to fight on occasion.”

He opens his mouth to say something but she speaks before he gets a chance to.

“Well I’ll go to sleep now, goodnight Chat Noir.”

He bids the girl goodnight then hurries home. He only hopes that this stays off the Ladyblog. Yes, Alya might have become one of his best friends in the past year, but that doesn’t change that she sometimes tries to pry into Ladybug’s and Chat Noir’s personal life. Which drives him nuts.

He reaches his window and sneaks in, always as quiet as he can even though he doubts his dad or Nathalie will find out.  
Tonight his room feels more lonely than it’s ever been. His fight with Marinette makes him reminisce on all the times that they’ve spent together in his room. He looks over to the couch and thinks of when they would have Studio Ghibli movie marathons and show her his favorite animes. He looks over to the rock wall and remembers when they had climbing contests to see who was faster and he let her win every time, he knows that she knew even though she never said anything about it. He then allows himself to look over at his bed and recalls the times where they would take naps next to each other and end up somehow either spooning or cuddling. Will they be able to do any of those things again? He hopes so. He misses the feeling of holding her in his arms as they slept. 

He feels the magic surround his body and disappear as he detransforms and puts his hands out so Plagg can land in his hands.

The first things to come out of his mouth are, “Wow I’m tired. I also really need cheese.” Which doesn’t surprise Adrien one bit.

“Yea we can sleep soon. don’t worry. and I’ll get you some cheese in a minute, I just have to check something.”

He walks over to his computer and shakes the mouse so it wakes up the computer. He no longer has the Ladyblog as his home screen. Since the reveal he slowly stopped being obsessed with needing to know when Ladybug was out and about, realizing that it would be creepy now knowing that it’s Marinette.

Well, there it is. The first thing he sees on the Ladyblog is a PSA in bold letters. He’s kind of nervous to read it. Well, he’s gonna have to read it at some point might as well get it over with.

[2:34 AM: IMPORTANT PSA FOR PARIS]  
Hi everyone, tonight was an interesting night. Some of us were awoken by our two favorite heroes arguing with each other. I have gotten several video submissions but I will not be posting them out of respect for our heroes’ privacy. Everyone gets into fights and we should understand that they are people too and sometimes people have disagreements. Please don’t go around posting and sharing your videos of them fighting, that’s just rude. So I better not see anything from tonight on social media or I’ll come find you and take it down myself!

Have a good rest of your night Paris,  
Your favorite Ladyblogger, Alya

“Wow.”

“What did she write?” Plagg asks. Though he guesses that he read it because then he hears, “Oh.. yeah definitely wow.” “So I’m guessing that you had a fight with Ladybug again?”

“Yeah, except this time, it definitely ended badly.”

“How bad is badly?”

He briefly explained the scenario to Plagg knowing that Plagg doesn’t care half the time and didn’t want to make it too long. Living with his kwami has made him the master of TL;DR.

“Oh, wow kid, you really got yourself into a pickle there.”

“Yeah, I guess I did.”

“But as long you know that it’s not all your fault.”

“I guess you’re right about that,” he pondered. “But I still feel terrible for what I said.”

Plagg floats toward the bed and lands on a pillow.

He takes his phone out of his pocket and opens his texts to Marinette, then types out a message and sent it. He waited a minute. He types out another message and another. ‘Maybe she really does want a break from me,’ he wonders. He puts his phone down on the bed.

He grabs a slice of Camembert from a plate on his desk and holds it out for Plagg to take. The kwami quickly zooms over and takes it out of his hand.

He changes out of his clothes and puts on his favourite pair of flannel pajama pants. He needed the comfort tonight. Then He walks over to his bed and picks up his phone again. No answer from Marinette. He types out another text before climbing into bed.

“Plagg?”

“What? I’m trying to sleep!” Plagg grumbles, sounding annoyed.

“Do you think Marinette ever loved me?” He asks quietly.

He hears Plagg take a deep breath and exhale. “I think that she hasn’t admitted to herself that she loves you, but yes, I think she does love you, very deeply. More than she knows how to deal with.”

That… was not the answer he had expected from Plagg. “Wow, okay thank you.” One last time, he reaches for his phone and opens up his texts to Marinette. He types out one last text before he gives up on her answering.

“Just go to sleep kid.”

“Goodnight Plagg.”

“Goodnight kid.”

He presses send and puts his phone down.

[To: My Princess <3: Goodnight My Lady, enjoy our break.]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What did you all think? We'll get back to the present day drama in the next chapter. This next chapter will be up after I finish my Secret Santa fic so give me about a week


	4. The Akuma

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happened to this woman that got her akumatized?
> 
> TRIGGER WARNING: It contains non-explicit referenced non-con/sexual assault/rape

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER WARNING:  
> This chapter is the akuma's backstory  
> It contains non-explicit referenced non-con/sexual assault/rape  
> YOU CAN SKIP THIS CHAPTER, this doesn't affect the plot, it's just background to explain what happened with the akuma.

“And another thing!” The customer got louder, attracting more attention to the register they were at. Ginette just stood there and made sure to keep their face expressionless. They tried so very hard not to show how they were feeling, trying not to cry in front of a customer was a daily occurance. Well, that’s what it’s like for someone working in customer service.

Ginete just stared at the customer as they rambled on about how terrible of employee they are. Oh what fun! 

“Are you even listening to me! That’s it! I want to see a manager! Now!” Well shit.

Breathe in. Breathe Out. “Okay, if that’s what you want.” Trying to keep their voice as stable as possible with having their voice crack as she fidgets with the rubberband on her wrist. 

Reaching over the desk and picking up the phone, they dialed the manager’s extension number. 

“This is Arsene Charbonneau.”

“Hi Arsene, this is Ginette. I have a customer here who wants to see a manager.”

“Okay, where are you?”

“I’m in section 12.”

“I’m on my way.”

Ginette slowly put the phone down and looked up at the customer. “My manager is on their way.”

The customer rolled their eyes and looked away.

Only a few moments later Ginette felt a presence over her. She didn’t even need to turn around to know that her manager was behind her. A hand came to rest on her shoulder.

“Well what seems to be the problem?” Asked a deep, male voice. 

Ginette’s fingers traced down her wrist to find the hair-band that she habitually wore there, and gave it a small tug.

“Well your employee here...” The customer started off again, explaining why they were upset, but the only thing Ginette could focus on was the hand trailing from her shoulder down her back and onto her ass. 

Ginette felt her whole body go rigid and fought to keep her emotions off of her face. She couldn’t help but wonder,‘Does anyone notice this? Do people see but ignore it?’ She kept fidgeting with the band at her wrist, trying to keep herself calm. 

Her manager continued with the customer, keeping his hand on her ass and giving a brief squeeze. She can hear the smugness in his voice as he continues to placate the customer, so pleased with himself, knowing that he wouldn’t be caught. 

God, she hated when this happened. He’d gotten bolder lately, harassing her in public, doing these thing in front of people. She wished someone would see what he was doing and say something this time. They never did. Customers didn’t care and none of her coworkers within the company would dare tell someone with his ranking that he was abusing his power. 

She could feel his blunt nails digging into her cheek as she tried not to let tears well up in her eyes.

She saw the customer calming down at last, picking up their things. They threw a nasty look in her direction. Once they turn around and walk away, her manager released her ass from his grip, and Ginette realized she’d been holding her breath. She exhaled slowly. 

He turned to her and clears his throat trying to get her attention. “Well, what do you say Ginette?”

She shakily inhaled and opens her mouth. She can hardly speak, but she forced the words out. “Thank you.”

“Thank you what?” His tone smooth and more than a little condescending.

“Thank you, sir.” She said softly, her eyes drawn down to her feet.

“Good.” She could feel him smirking down at her. 

He turned around and Ginette nervously looked up to see him finally start to walk away. Half way down the hall he paused to glance at her over his shoulder at her. “It’s always a pleasure to see you, Ginette.” 

She gulped. Standing still, she felt unable to move from her spot.

Once he was out of her view, Ginette looked around quickly and ran to find a coworker. Any coworker. Seeing Christophe, one of her few friends at work, she ran over to him and quickly said, “I’m gonna run to the bathroom can you watch over my section?” 

He nodded and she bid a hasty retreat towards the bathroom.

She practically crashed through the bathroom door, feeling the tears slowly drip down her face. She felt herself collapse against the counter. She stood there sobbing, not knowing what to do next. She had to try and calm herself down because if not, there’s always the chance of getting akumatized, and Arsene and his disgusting actions were not worth getting akumatized over. She refused to give him that power over her. Arsene or Papillon.

‘It’s okay. It’s okay. You are safe now. He can’t touch you in here. You’ll get through this. This stupid shift is almost over.”

Ginette slowly calmed herself down and tried to regulate her breathing, hiccuping from crying. She knew she had to go back out there soon. She’d spent at least 3 minutes in here. Someone was bound to notice and if they did...

She finally looked up at the mirror and to take a good look at herself. Her eyes were puffy and red and her cheeks were tear-stained. She turned the knob on the sink and splashed some water on her face. As she dried her face off with a paper towel, she started to get back into the work mindset.

Steeling herself, she headed back to her section of the store and pretended nothing had been troubling her.

The rest of her shift passed slowly, without any real issues. Thankfully she didn’t had to call her manager Arsene for the rest of the day.

She was on her way to clock out when another girl wearing an employee badge came running towards her. 

“Are you Ginette?” They asked.

“Uhm yes that’s me.” 

“Arsene wants to see you in his office. Immediately.”

Her thought began to run wild. ‘No. Please god no. Not today. I’ve had enough of him today.’ 

She realized that there is no way out of this. She had to see him. No matter what, he is still her boss and she needed this job and can’t risk being fired. Feeling like a prisoner being led to execution, she started to walk towards the offices. With each step her body began to shake with anxiety, full of fear of what was to come. When she reached his office door, she stood there for a moment, too scared to knock.  
At last she forced herself to knock on the heavy wooden door, and awaited an answer from the other side. She heard a muffled ‘come in’ from inside the office. She reached for the knob and turns it, the door swinging open as she walked in, looking down, afraid to meet his eyes.

“Ginette, how wonderful to see you again today. Please, sit down.” He gestured to the chair in front of his desk.

“I was told that you wanted to see me.”

“Yes, yes. I was worried about you. Earlier you seemed kind of.. Tense. Are you doing okay?”

“I’m fine.” She said quietly, still looking at the floor as she moved to sit down in the chair.

He stood up from his office chair and walked around to the front of the desk to stand directly in front of her less, than a foot away. His tall figure towered above her as she shrunk down in her seat, forced to look up at him. He lifted a hand to push back his dark brown hair that is covering his forehead and moved it to the side. Ginette noticed little things about his physique as he stood there. His strong jaw, the muscles of his arms showing through his dress shirt, his face bare of any stubble.

“What’s wrong Ginette?” He looked down at her softly, a look that she knows is anything but innocent.

She didn’t answer, going back to looking down at her feet. Absently she began pulling at the band on her wrist.

“Are you scared of me? Is that it? Do I intimidate you? Do I make you uncomfortable?” He said the last word slowly, dragging it out. 

Her breath caught in her throat as she bit down on her lower lip, fighting not to react. 

He bends down to her level. “Look at me. Look me in the eyes, Ginette.”

There was no choice now. Ginette slowly looked up to see him staring her dead in the eyes.

He took his hand and put it on her knee, a smirk curving his lips as he moved it up her leg slowly. 

If she thought she was tense before, she was wrong. She could feel her body freeze up, unable to move. She couldn’t even pull on the hair-band.

‘This is it I guess. I knew this would happen at some point. Did I do something to deserve this?”

The next few minutes pass by in a blur of tears. Until the world blessed her with a knock on the door. 

“Arsene? You have a meeting in 10 in the conference room on the 3rd floor.” Said a voice from the hallway.

“Thank you, I’ll head over now.” The man in front of her said.

As Arsene stepped away, Ginette stayed frozen in her spot. Arsene gathered some paperwork from his desk and left the room without a word, leaving her alone. 

Ginette hunched over herself and started to sob. She shook as she cried and allowed herself to let it out. She had to get out of here. She couldn’t be in here any longer. She quickly stood up and fixed her skirt, wiped her eyes, picked up her bag, and left the room. She practically ran towards the exit and didn’t even care to clock out of her shift. She opened the store’s door to be greeted by downpour.

“Wow, my lucky day.” She ground out.

She made her way over to her car and hopped in, completely soaked from the rain. As she drove she started to think.

‘I didn’t deserve it. I didn’t deserve it. I didn’t deserve it.’ 

When she got to her apartment, she wasn’t even upset anymore. She was enraged. She realized that this needs to come to a stop. No one deserves this. Not her. Not anyone.

She went inside and headed straight towards her bedroom, sat down at her desk, opened her laptop and got to work. She opened up her email and decided it was time for a change.

To: Bastion Bellamy (Lead Supervisor)  
Dear Mr. Bellamy. 

My name is Ginette Lachance. I would like to report a case of harassment against Arsene Charbonneau. Since I started working here 4 months ago, he has taken an interest in me. It started with him simply groping me and has escalated to rape. Earlier today, I was summoned to his office and was cornered as he sexually assaulted me. This needs to be put to an end and I hope that you can find a way to deal with this. Please.

Thank you for your time,

Ginette Lachance

She read it over and pressed ‘send’. It’s only early afternoon but she decides to lay down, the weight of the day crashing over her like a wave now that she was finally alone.

Morning came, both strangely late and far too early. Ginette barely slept, the whole ordeal with her manager haunting her thoughts. Also, there was an uncomfortable tension in the air from last night. No one mentioned it, but the argument between Ladybug and Chat Noir really shook the city.

It was a slow day at the store and for a moment Ginette felt like maybe she could get through this day without a hitch. Until about an hour into her morning shift. 

She heard the P.A. system turn on with a crackle and waited for the announcement. 

“Miss Lachance please come to Mr. Bellamy’s office immediately. Thank you.”

Well, shit. There goes a calm day. Ginette put down the shirt she was folding and headed to the offices on the 2nd floor. When she reached the door to his office she heard more than one voice coming from inside. She immediately felt an overwhelming sense of panic. She forced herself to knock on the door, trying not to run in the other direction.

“Come in.” a voice called from inside.

She opened the door and walked into a nightmare. 

Arsene was standing right in front of her Lead Supervisor’s desk. Smirking, looking like he had a plan to ruin her life.

Mr. Bellamy -- skinny, balding, tailored and pressed as usual -- looked over at her and smiled. “Let’s talk.”

 

Ginette left the room with tears running down her face. The horrid conversation she just had ran on painful repeat in her mind like a hellish broken movie reel.

“How could he say that?! How could he have the audacity to tell me I was ‘asking for it’! Skirts and dresses are the dress code, so why should I be punished for wearing them? Why did Arsene lie and say that we were seeing each other? What an asshole! Why did Bellamy listen to him and look at me like I did something wrong?! I. Didn’t. Deserve. It.”

Her voice echoed through the empty hall but she didn’t care. So caught up was she that she failed to notice the little butterfly coming towards her and landing on the band on her wrist. 

“Hello Veritas, goddess of truth. You have been wronged by these men. Wouldn’t it be better if everyone spoke the truth? But first, you must help me get the Ladybug and Cat miraculous’. Go my little akuma! Speak the truth!”

“No one will hide behind their lies again.” And all she saw... was red.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry about this chapter, it was only gonna be about an employee getting yelled at but turned into much more and I'm sorry if you felt uncomfortable or triggered by this chapter.
> 
> Veritas is the Roman goddess of truth if you didn't get that
> 
> Also, I'm sorry that I said a week and took almost over a month to get this chapter out.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Back to the present! How will the Adrien and Marinette defeat the akuma while they are fighting?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my first time ever writing any sort of fight scene, I think it turned out okay. Enjoy!
> 
> Update: I went through the chapter and did some additions and editing.

Once they were transformed, they met in the hallway outside of the bathrooms. The halls were empty, as everyone had already left the school. Papers scattered on the floor showing that people left in a hurry. They didn't even look at each other to acknowledge that the other was even there. After a moment of awkwardness they bolted for the exit of the school. 

The sun was bright and blinded them as they left the building. It was loud, there were people screaming and running from all directions. They looked left and right trying to pinpoint the yelling and commotion. Then they saw it. 

A woman was floating in front of the school. Her long hair fluttered in the wind, the color of cornsilk, her pale blue skin a direct contrast to the cloudy gray sky around her. She was dressed in a black unitard, accented with streaks of blue. Golden pauldrons sat atop her shoulders, a matching belt picked out with deep blue stones at her waist. A crown of golden laurels topped her hair, making her look like a supremely pissed off Roman goddess. Well except for the gigantic rocket launcher she had in her hands that was currently shooting at every innocent civilian that was in its range; a literal truth bomb.

Ladybug decided to break their silence. She turned to her partner. “Okay, what do you think Chat?”

Chat Noir looked over at her, cocked his head to the side. “Do you really want to know what I think?”

She rolled her eyes, knowing what he was talking about. “This isn't the time for this, I'm talking about the akuma!”

He raised his arms above his head and looked up at the sky, deliberately casual. “It's never the time to talk about it, is it? We could be on vacation on a beach and it wouldn't be the time to talk about it.”

“Ugh just shut up already!” Ladybug snapped. 

“Fine, let's do this without talking to each other because that'll work so well.” He sassed her.

“Stop sassing me!”

“I will sass you as much as I like, thank you very much!” He smiled that big Chat Noir smile. It caught her off guard. She hadn’t seen it since they started fighting.

She ushered her mind right back into reality where he was sassing her currently. “Ugh! Look, you can be as snarky as you want after we’ve dealt with the akuma. Right now we’ve got a city to protect.”

They dashed towards the akuma, yoyo and baton at the ready in case she attacked. They slowed a few feet in front of the akuma, gazing warily up at where she floated above them, standing atop a ball of light, firing truth-bombs at people from her rocket launcher.

Ladybug could tell that Chat Noir was getting in the zone when she saw him smirk out of the corner of her eye. He put his hands on his hips and leaned his torso forward and called out, “Hey! How’s the weather up there?”

Usually Ladybug would just roll her eyes at the joke, but right now it just straight-up annoyed her. She scowled at the joke and kept her eyes on the akuma.

Seeing her expression, her partner smirked. “Maybe you both should have had the decaf this morning, LB. You seem a little high-strung.”

A blast of white light separated them, directing their full attention back to the akuma. “If it isn't Ladybug and Chat Noir.” The akuma grinned menacingly.

“Live and in person. And who might you be?” Chat Noir said with disinterest in his tone.

“I am Veritas, Goddess of truth,” the woman declared, tossing her hair dramatically. “No more will the citizens of Paris hide behind lies and false faces! No more will the innocent be prosecuted and the villains praised! All shall speak the truth, or feel my wrath!”

“Ouch. Well then, I guess I should tell you that gold shoulder pads are very last-season.” Chat grinned.

The akuma ignored Chat’s comment and looked over to stare at Ladybug with eyes narrowed with calculation. Ladybug felt a shiver go down her spine. She felt it, something was about to go terribly wrong.

“Now tell me, are you withholding the truth Ladybug?” 

“Um, yeah! It’s called a ‘secret identity’ for a reason!” Shit. Of course this akuma could sense truth and lies. And that was exactly the problem: of course she was withholding the truth. Yeah, she and Adrien were hiding their identities, but that’s obviously not what this akuma is hinting at. The akuma could see deeper than that. The truth was hard for her to deal with, and it wasn’t something that she wanted to come to terms with yet.

“Ladybug!” Chat Noir’s scream cut through her thoughts. Her moment of inattention cost her, because the next thing she knew,a beam of light was heading straight towards her.

“Speak the truth!” Veritas yelled as she fired a blast from her rocket launcher.

Ladybug flung herself out of the way, avoiding the first blast. The second ball off light hit her head-on, knocking her off her feet.

The scream that sounded from the heroine could have shattered glass. 

Fire. It felt like fire. As if she was being burned alive. It was so painful. She was sure that her skin would be covered in burn scars and her insides were melting. Is this what it felt like to be hit by an akuma’s power? Is this what Chat Noir felt every time he was hit? 

She heard someone yelling. Was it her? Was it Chat? It took a moment for the voice to become clear.

“-bug! Ladybug! Look at me! Say something? Are you alright?!”

She could barely breathe, let alone answer his calls. It took a moment before she realized that she was lying on the ground and slowly started coming back to reality. Her eyes were shut and her arms were wrapped around her torso where she was hit with the akuma’s light. She lifted her head out of her hands and looked up slowly. Everything was too bright, searing the eyes.

She saw Chat Noir leaning over her but could barely make out his face, let alone see anything around him.

“Ladybug? Ladybug?! Oh my god! Are you okay?!”

She went to respond but only ended up coughing. She tried to sit up but it was too painful. 

Another blast interrupted them. Veritas, taking advantage of their distraction, fired upon Chat Noir. He swept his partner into his arms, dodging the blast, and ducking down a narrow side-street, out of the line of fire. “LB, you okay?” 

Ladybug took a deep breath and coughed when exhaling.

That was when Chat begin to lecture her.“What the fuck was that?! You weren’t even paying attention! You just let her take a hit at you! Ladybug! Are you even paying attention to me?! What is going on in your head right now?!” 

Her thoughts were running at a pace that she couldn’t control. She didn’t know where these thoughts were coming from. All of a sudden she was thinking about the other night fighting with Chat again. 

The fight that woke the city. Did he not know how hard this was for her? For her to fall in love with him twice, and not be able to be with him? Knowing each other’s identities was dangerous enough. If an akuma managed to take control of one of them, they were done for. But if they actually got together…. Oh how she wanted to say yes. To just grab him and kiss his stupid pretty face like she’d been dreaming of doing since that day in the rain. But she couldn’t. He was her partner. As heroes they could be friends, but nothing more. He already took enough risks for her. He had literally died for her. She was under no illusions that his reckless behaviour would cease if she admitted her feelings for him. If anything he’d be even more likely to throw himself into harm’s way for her. She couldn’t lose him, not again. 

And she knew she could be just as bad. What lengths had she gone through already for Adrien? How much farther would she go, knowing he was Chat? And if something happened to her, who would purify the akuma? It felt selfish, so so selfish to think of that. She loved him, of course she did, and it went against all that she was to need to think of herself first. And hadn’t she chastised Chat enough for saying that exact same thing? 

And what if some day his feelings changed? What if once they were together, once they really got to know all of each other, it didn’t work? Would it damage their partnership? She couldn’t take that risk. No matter her feelings, Paris had to come first. 

Not for the first time she cursed Master Fu. She loved being Ladybug, just as she knew Adrien loved being Chat Noir, but placing the burden of protecting the city on the shoulders of a pair of teenagers was an entirely unfair thing to do. Anything they wanted for themselves would always have to come in second place. 

She wanted to scream, to spit out her thoughts to the world to hear, for Paris to hear, for Chat Noir to hear. 

“I’m sorry.” Her hands clamped her mouth as soon as the words slipped out. 

“What?” Chat looked confused. 

“I'm sorry for what I said!” Ladybug fought the words but they burst out with a painful gasp.

If anything this puzzled her partner even more. “I thought you said this wasn't the time.”

 

Ladybug shook her head, trying to keep her mouth shut as she kept her hands over her mouth, blue eyes wide with fear. 

 

“She has to tell the truth. No more lies!” The akuma declared, pointing at Ladybug with a maniacal laugh. 

“Damn, lady, when they said ‘the truth hurts’, you weren’t supposed to take it literally!”

Ladybug tried to keep the words in but they burst out with a scream of agony. “I lied! I do want to be with you!” Ladybug yelled, shutting her eyes, not wanting to see Chat’s reaction. But the akuma’s power wouldn’t even allow her that much peace. Each second she avoided the inevitable came with a throb of pain. She felt tears fill her eyes, it stung like a bitch. She let out a loud groan.

“You cannot hide from the truth, Ladybug,” Veritas said softly, hovering over them. “The more you fight it, the more pain it will cause. Unless, of course, you give me your Miraculous. Then I may spare you.”

“N-never!” The heroine spat.

Chat wouldn’t leave her side. “If it hurts that you're not telling the truth, then tell me the truth!”

She shook her head stubbornly, tears of pain streaming down her cheeks. 

“Ladybug, please! Tell the truth! Please, don’t let her do this to you.”

Her only response was another cry of pain.

“Just say it!” Veritas snarled. 

“Please just-”

“I love you!” 

In that moment the world seemed to stop. Chat Noir froze in his crouch beside her with his mouth wide open.

Another scream, this one not at all pained, sounded from a nearby side-street. One which obviously came from a certain young reporter, overjoyed that her ship had finally sailed.

The pain died quickly. The fire was put out. She was no longer burning. She could breathe again. She could control her own thoughts.

Veritas grinned broadly. She raised her arms up in the air and looked to the sky and laughed. “The Truth has been spoken!” 

Chat Noir didn’t move. He didn’t speak. He could barely breathe. Did she actually say what he thought she had? Had Veritas hit him with a beam and made him hallucinate?

Ladybug looked like she was in so much pain when she said it. The pain seemed to of dissipated after she said it, so is it true? Does she truly love him? No. There’s no way.

“And now it is your turn, Chat Noir!”

In his butterfly lair, Papillon’s mouth stretch in a broad grin. Caring less than nothing about Chat Noir’s intense emotional Crisis, he was more than willing to take advantage of the young hero’s distraction. Gleaming violet lines in the shape of a butterfly appeared around Veritas’ eyes. 

 

Veritas dove from the sky, rocket launcher at the ready. At close range she could not miss, but right when she was about to fire, she was met with a hard blow from a silver staff.

Chat Noir swung for the fences, fists clenched in aggravation. “Can’t you see I’m having a Crisis here?!” 

Ladybug looked startled from Chat’s outburst. It was rare for him to lose his composure with an akuma like that, but hell, she was still rattled from her own akuma-induced breakdown.

“Chat?” She looked at him with worried eyes.

He swung his body around to face her. “This is a terrible time for me to want to kiss you, I hope you know that.” He looked as serious as can be, which was very strange for him.

Damn it, did he have to say that now? 

“We should, uhm, ya know, fight the akuma..” She tried to get off the topic of them kissing. Smoochies could come later.  
This isn’t the time for these thoughts.

But it was hard to keep those thoughts at bay when he looked at her so intently. She knew that face, had admired it up close and from afar for over two years. She knew its every expression, but in this moment she couldn’t read him at all. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know what he was thinking. On the other hand, the curiosity was killing her. 

 

They were both knocked back into reality when they heard the screams start up again. Veritas had crawled out of the rubble of the small shop that Chat had smacked her into, and had turned her attention to the unlucky civilians who had not been able to clear the area. She fired off her blaster, beams of light shooting in every direction. She cackled as they ran. “They say the Truth shall set you free, and now I release you all!” 

Chat sunk into a fighter’s crouch, feeling his Lady doing the same behind him. “We have a lot to talk about,” he said softly. “After we deal with her.”

He didn’t have to see her nod to know she’d done so. 

They darted forward, Ladybug swinging up to the rooftops while Chat approached from the ground. Veritas turned them, firing off her rocket launcher and forcing Chat to dodge to the side, flipping into an alleyway where he landed inches from an open dumpster. 

“We have to find the akumatized object!” Ladybug yelled down to Chat.

“I’m up for suggestions!” He called back. “Think it’s the crown thing?”

“Why would someone be wearing a crown during the day?” Ladybug said dryly. 

“Well, I do that every Tuesday with my afternoon tea,” He said with a smile, waving his staff in the air.

“Not surprising.” Ladybug muttered. 

“I’ll have you know it’s very tasteful,” Chat sniffed. “So, if it’s not the crown..?”

“I don’t know.” She’d been wrong before. Maybe it was the crown. “Let’s go for it anyway. Maybe this will be an easy one. If not…” Well, they’d cross that bridge when they came to it.

Chat nodded, darting through the street towards the akuma, dodging blaster-fire as he went. Ladybug went in high, swinging up behind Veritas in an attempt to swipe the crown from her head. Veritas used her rocket launcher to block Chat’s staff, swinging it like a club and forcing him back. The moment she had room to fire she aimed at Ladybug again, trying to shoot her out of the sky. She missed by inches. 

Ladybug dropped onto a nearby rooftop, ducking under the ledge to avoid being hit again. 

Chat Noir was still on the ground scurrying around trying to avoid being hit with the akuma’s rocket launcher as it swung at him. He parried with his staff, bracing against her attack, and let out a low curse. Why did akuma have to be so strong?

“Let’s see what secrets you’re hiding.” Veritas shoved him back again, swinging the rocket launcher up to fire at close range. 

He barely dodged, dropping flat on his back on the pavement. He swung his leg around, kicking the weapon away. His momentum carried him around and back up to his feet. He reached for the laurel crown, barely missing it as Veritas jerked away.

Good. The akuma was distracted with Chat. Ladybug decided this was a great time to swoop in and get the crown. She jumped off the building and threw her yoyo at a pole, letting it grip on. While she was in the air, she tugged on it, checking to see if it was secured onto the pole, then pulled on it hard and swung down to the akuma. 

The akuma was moving left and right, back and forth, and while Ladybug thought she could figure out where Veritas was going to move next, but she miscalculated and missed the crown when Veritas shifted slightly to the right. This maneuver put the villain right in Chat’s path. He swiped the laurels from her head, tossing them up to his partner.

Ladybug grabbed the laurels from the air, landing on a rooftop and snapping them down on her knee. The crown broke in half and she waited for a moment to see if the black butterfly was going to fly out, but to no avail. Nothing happened.

No black butterfly. Shit.

Ladybug cursed under her breath. So much for that idea. “It’s not the crown,” she called down, tossing down the now-useless pieces.

“I kinda figured!” Chat called back, dodging a punch to the face from a still-powered Veritas. 

“What else do you think it could be?”

“Dunno! I’m a little --- distracted right now, My Lady!”

Ladybug felt her heart stutter at the words. It felt like an eternity since he had called her that. His timing for cute nicknames had always been horrendous, but she had to admit she missed them. She was still mad at him. The fight did a number on her emotions and her heart and they still needed to talk it out. But, just hearing those two words come out of his mouth, it reminded her that he still cared for her.

“Any chance that it could be the rocket launcher?!” Ladybug yelled down to him.

“You mean, the thing that she’s currently trying to smush me with?”

“Well I don’t see any other rocket launchers in the area, do you?”

“Don’t sass me, Ladybug.”

“I will sass you as much as I like, thank you very much!” Ladybug looked smug, as she was using his exact words against him.

“You know what, fight me,” he said with plenty of attitude.

“Why don’t we finish fighting the akuma first, then we can fight each other, n’est pas?”

“Fine, I’ll wait,” he huffed, blocking another swing from Veritas with his staff. With him so close she didn’t have the room to fire, which was a blessing. The streets around them had emptied, but with his superior hearing he could still make out the voices of civilians shouting out their darkest secrets, and crying with pain if they refused to speak. Chat tightened his grip on his staff, twisting it so it split in two to parry another attack. 

The other disadvantage of close-quarters combat was that it made it that much more difficult for Ladybug to step in to help. Or swing in, as it were. While the Miraculous did gift her with increased strength and agility, she tended to be more of a mid- to long-range fighter. Chat Noir usually dealt with the hand-to-hand combat. 

All of a sudden she heard Veritas clearly say “Come here, mon chaton,” and before she had a chance to be irked by someone else using her nickname for him, she noticed Chat freeze up, completely stopping in his tracks. 

“Excuse you, there is only one person who gets to call me that, and --”

His distraction cost him. With a victorious smirk Veritas swung out, batting one of the batons from his hand. The half that he had left could not stand up to her weapon, and within moments she had disarmed him completely. 

“Chat! Cataclysm it now!

He regained his focus and leapt into action. He immediately called up his attack, feeling the charge of the destructive energy crackle between his claws. When Veritas swung again he was ready, catching her rocket launcher with one hand. The effect was instantaneous, pure concentrated entropy eating away at the metal, corroding it until there was nothing left but dust and rusted metal flakes. 

The heroes waited with bated breath. Would a butterfly emerge from the ash of the rocket launcher? In the end, they were met with disappointment. Yet again, no akuma butterfly. 

“Are you freaking kidding me?!” Ladybug exclaimed as she leapt down to the ground, landing next to Chat.

Chat Noir snorted with laughter at his partner’s frustrations. 

She whipped her head facing him. “Is this funny to you, you mangy cat?!” Now she was just done. Absolutely done.

He chuckled a little. “Sorry, it’s just, wow, it’s just been a shitty few days.” He sounded exhausted. 

Ladybug looked down at the ashes of the rocket launcher. “Yeah, I know.”

Beside them the gleam of violet light flashed again, forming the butterfly mask in front of the akuma’s face.

Papillon shouted in her thoughts. 

Without a thought, Veritas reached for the band at her wrist and tugged. She fiddled with it as the stupid butterfly man yelled at her about how pathetic she was. Just another man making her feel worthless and disgusting. As if she was insignificant! As if she was nothing!

“No!” Veritas yelled. “Not anymore!” Pulling on the band again.

Papillon was shocked.

“I will no longer do your bidding! I will not be toyed with again!” She yanked at the band as she shouted.

“I’m sick of men treating me as if I were an object!” Her arms were curled into her chest as she held tight onto the band on the other wrist. 

What Veritas failed to notice that her outburst caught the attention of the two heroes. They exchanged glances, a thousand thoughts passed between them with only a second’s eye contact. 

“Figure it out LB?”

“Yup.”

“Lucky Charm?”

“Yup.”

Ladybug called out her lucky charm and watched as the item appeared in a flash of light and fell into her hands.

Scissors.

“Oh now you want to make this easy? Wow thanks.” She said to nobody in particular. 

Chat Noir looked over and down into Ladybug’s hands at the item, then looked back up at her.

He started running toward the akuma, almost crashing into her. She must have noticed him coming at her, for she put her hands up in a stopping motion. He skidded up to her, grabbed her arm and pulled it out straight to the side of her. She seemed too shocked to stop him from reaching towards the band at her wrist. As he grabbed the band, Ladybug opened the scissors and threw them like a dart at a dartboard, slicing the air to sever the band from Veritas’ wrist.

“NO!” Veritas shrieked as she was covered in blackish purple bubbles. They faded quickly, until all there was left was Ginette Lachance curled in on herself, sobbing on the street.

The black butterfly flew up from the broken band and started heading for the sky. Ladybug gripped her yoyo. She twirled it in an arc around her and let it fly, capturing the poisoned butterfly inside. “No more evildoing for you, little akuma.” The yoyo gleamed and when it opened again, it released a butterfly of gleaming white. “Bye-bye little butterfly.”

“Miraculous Ladybug!” She yelled for the city to hear. As the city and all the damage reverted back to normal, she took a breath.

She looked over at the woman who was the akuma and started walking over to her. She crouched down in front of her. She went to ask if she was okay until she heard the things the woman was mumbling under her breath.

Did she hear her right? Did she just say that someone had raped her? Oh geez, she wasn’t properly trained to deal with this situation.

She looked over to Chat Noir and gave him a look that said ‘we have a problem’. She took a deep breath and sat down next to the woman.

“What’s your name?”

A mumble could be heard but not any real words.

“I’m sorry, what did you say your name was?”

The woman looked up at Ladybug and spoke up. “Ginette. Ginette Lachance.”

Ladybug steadied her voice, trying to be as calm as possible. “Do you want to tell me what happened, Ginette? 

A sob came from Ginette before she started to speak again. “My-my boss. He-he’s been harassing me since I started working for him, and then yesterday…..”

“What did he do, Ginette?” She asked softly. She didn’t want to hear the answer. She was sure she already knew but she needed to be sure.

“He...he cornered me in his office. He….touched me and…..” Ginette started sniffling.

“What’s his name?” She needed to know.

Ginette shook her head. 

“Ginette, I need to know his name. I want to help you, but I can’t do anything if I don’t have his name.” Ladybug explained.

“It doesn’t matter, he’ll still win.”

“Hey, Chat Noir and I? We’re the good guys. And good guys beat the bad guys. Every time. If anyone can stop this guy from doing anymore damage, it’s us.”

Ginette didn’t look like she was about to give his name up yet.

Which just increased Ladybug’s desire to have Chat Noir cataclysm this guy in the face. First her attacker, then Papillon for taking advantage of her after such a traumatizing experience. 

She turned her head and saw Chat waiting for a cue to come over. She nodded and Chat almost tripped over his feet running over to them.

Ginette realized what Ladybug was doing and immediately panicked. 

“No. No please don’t tell him. Please, I-”

Ladybug put up her hand to stop Ginette from finishing her sentence.

“Chat Noir is my partner and my best friend, he’s also the kindest person I know. He has the biggest heart and he will want to help you, I promise.”

Ginette looked scared. “Okay.”

Chat Noir sat down across from the girls and sat criss-cross applesauce, smiled at Ginette and looked over to Ladybug. He raised his eyebrow in question and in return got Ladybug to mouth the one word he wasn’t expecting: rape. 

Ladybug started to speak again, trying to bring Chat up to speed, she repeated her question. “Ginette, please tell us the name of the man who did this.”

Chat Noir spoke up in the sweetest voice he could manage, “We will do everything we can to bring you justice, all we need is his name.”

Ginette looked at the heroes, closed her eyes, and took a breath. “Arsene Charbonneau.”

Ladybug released a breath that she didn’t know she was holding. Now she had the name of the low gutter creature that she fully intended to dangle from his toes off the top of the Eiffel Tower. 

“Thank you Ginette.” She took another breath. “Will you be alright getting home?”

Ginette nodded. 

Ladybug stood up and held out her hand for Ginette. Ginette took her hand, stood up, thanked them and walked away.

Both the heroes took a deep breath.

It was then that Chat realized that they didn’t even fist bump after the fight. He slowly lifted his fist and looked over to Ladybug. “Bien Joue?”

Ladybug looked down at his fist and sighed, feeling a little guilty that she’d forgotten about their tradition. She lifted her fist to his, bumping their knuckles together. “Bien Joue.” She said with a small smile.

Chat Noir looked at his partner and remembered that before the akuma, they were fighting. “We need to talk... And not the talking that we did this morning before class.” He said.

“I know, I know. I do. Just not right now.” She put her hands to her temples.

“Fine.” He didn’t want to argue with her this time. He had maybe a minute left before he changed back, so he turned around and walked away.

Ladybug hated pushing him away. But she didn’t know what else to do. She had been pushing him away for as long as she can remember. Then there was last night, the fight, and this morning, her rudeness, and just now.

She turned around, not surprised to see him long gone. It was still the middle of the day, so she had to go back to school and see him. She knew she didn’t have much time left before she also changed back, so she quickly headed behind the trees next to the school to detransform.

**Author's Note:**

> Leave comments please, let me know what you all think!  
> come yell at me on tumblr: gayfairyroyalty


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